Tag Archives: #parenting

For some reason tonight, I had a song running through my head – Charlie and the MTA. I have old memories of my parents and us kids singing the song together while my mother played the guitar. Said mother had a very old songbook of tunes. She played, we sang. I would very much love to have that old book of songs, but along with the rest of what is now known as folklore American song history, it is long gone. It only survives by word of mouth, and unfortunately (or not), in this day and age of me and mine and now, this type of thing did not get passed down to my children, and probably didn’t get passed down to yours.

This particular funny old folk song running through my head is about the Boston subway raising their rates so that poor, old Charlie didn’t have enough money to afford the increased price, and for some strange reason he couldn’t afford to get off the subway – he had to ride it forever. I youtubed the song and could only find The Kingston Trio.

Another oldie but goodie was Boil Them Cabbage Down Down. After googling this song, I could only find a very hickish, twangish, fast bango picking version with slightly different lyrics on the Andy Griffith show of all places. My family sang it much slower and with harmony, making it a much “prettier” song than what I can offer to you:

One song that should be well known by all and is truer to the way we sang it: Sixteen Tons. A song against “The Man.” An intensely wonderful song where you can sing high, or low, or in between, that has a common, bummer theme that we all can relate to. How can you go wrong?

I will leave you with two images. Image number one is two young children on a mattress in their mother’s room as she strums the guitar and we all sing. Image number two is a bunch of hippies with their children on a beach in front of a firepit, singing together. Take your pick, they both happened.

These are only a few of the songs we used to sing. Please enjoy the songs and pass them along to the next generation!

As a woman, I can tell you that being a stay-at-home mom is a wonderful and rewarding job. However, it isn’t without pitfalls. Cook, clean, and wipe butt? Sign me up, I’m in. Men, don’t judge. There is a reason why I can’t talk about being a stay-at-home dad. Yet I’m sure the experience is quite similar. Also, ladies, please don’t judge. No matter how much you decide to work “outside of the home”, it is complicated. I would just like to stress the point that being a stay-at-home parent is a full time job, without outside pay.

Decisions, decisions. Do the math. Can the family be supported on one income? Now do the mental. Can you cope? My husband (the old, bald guy) and I opted for the scrape by method, and since we were just starting out, we decided he would be the crumb winner. That allowed me to be a stay-at-home mom for about ten years. Would I take it back? Absolutely not. Were there hardships? Absolutely yes.

It turns out that raising children is very difficult. At times you may feel like a sleep deprived zombie with a shrunken brain. Oh, the ups and downs. But, who doesn’t love a good roller coaster ride? I actually learned a few tricks along the way. Let’s review.

Up: Home cooked meals and Garanimals!

Down: Arguing over which color cup you chose to use and how much milk you poured into it.

Fix: Compromise – change the dang cup to your child’s preference, transfer milk from Cup A to Cup B and tip milk carton as if pouring more milk, but leave the cap on – your child will feel smug, and so will you.

Up: Being there for every single crucial moment in your child’s life. First roll onto back, first sit up, first noise/word, first crawl, first steps. . .

Down: The sheer difficulty of trying to make it to the grocery store in between naps, feedings and diaper changes. Just when you think you might have an hour, nope, rethink plan, and hope there will be another window of opportunity, maybe today.

Fix: Wait. All good things come in time.

Up: Things to do for free – my favorites were parks and the library.

Down: Having accidents (of both kinds) at parks and the library.

Fix: I got nothing here. Oh wait – don’t take your kids anywhere, ever, and then this will only happen at home.

Up: The excitement of experiencing everything for the first time all over again from spiders to rainbows.

Down: The power of an instant lobotomy like headache resulting from an inhumanly and inhumane high screech made from your young child, perhaps after seeing a spider.

Fix: Ibuprofen.

Up: Volunteering at school and seeing the gleam in your child’s eye when they see how proud you are of him, and you can tell how proud he is to have special moments be witnessed by you.

Down: Feeling guilty about missing something exciting at school – a play, a spelling bee, etc.

Fix: There is none – you will feel guilty about something to do with your child(ren) for the rest of your life.

Up: Being there to explain everything to your child, especially the why.

Down: Your most intellectual discussion of the day probably had something to do with Dr. Seuss.

Fix: Encourage your child to read. Explain this to him or her: “The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” (Yes, Dr. Seuss).

Up: Being so happy that hubby is home to relieve you of your duties if only for a little bit, because he realizes that you have been on high alert ALL day as there is no such thing as childproofing, you have dealt with numerous disgusting substances, you haven’t had any adult contact or highly stimulating conversation, you have “worked” all day- we’re talking going to the bathroom with the door open or something terrible could happen to the children no-break kind of day.

Down: Realizing that hubby is not sympathetic to your cause because he has also worked all day, even though he was able to have some meaningful conversations, feel productive, solve complex problems, make money, and go to the bathroom with the door closed without fear of immediate harm to his young children.

Fix: Don’t worry, that last rant resolves on its own as the children grow older.

To be super fair, if I were to rewrite the last “Up” bullet point from my husband’s point of view, it might read as follows: Being so happy to come home to a home cooked meal after having worked all day, including plunging clogged toilets, clearing sewage lines, and dealing with difficult customers, knowing all the while that this hard work has allowed for my loving, caring, appreciate wife to be able to stay at home with the children.

In summary, enjoy the ups and cope with the downs. Just remember you are in charge of each and every wonderful new day in molding the mind of your little human being. “You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who’ll decide where to go…” (Dr. Seuss).

Wendy Knuth is the author of Moore Zombies picture books and chapter books for children. One of her characters is a stay-at-home Mombie zombie named Mombie Moore.

Everyone has heard the adage of buying presents for children only to find out they prefer the box. Well, from experience, it is true. So today, my good friends, I am here to tell you about one of the most cherished gifts your child will get from you: An item to bond with, to sleep with, a source of comfort, homemade with love. Yes, you will beam with pride when other parents ask you, “Where did you buy that?”

From me to you: Make a pillowcase!

Back in the day, I made a Teletubbies pillowcase for my son. He loved it – he treasured it for a couple of years. My other son was meanwhile enjoying the store bought 101 Dalmations bed set, just so you know he wasn’t neglected.

Go to your local store where materials are sold such as WalMart or JoAnns, and you will find a whole new world of options: Animals of all types (real and cartoony), holiday themed prints, fairies, princesses, flowers, specific sports teams, and copyrighted Disney characters. What did I find for my boys? Dinosaurs and construction equipment galore. Jackpot!

Worried about your sewing skills? Don’t be. I’m not an expert seamstress. Out of all the things one can sew, a pillowcase is probably one of the easiest, even if you don’t have a sewing machine. If your work is not up to par, your child probably won’t notice. But just in case, here is a handy tip from me to you: Don’t sew ALL the edges together or you will be left with a pillowcase malfunction. Handy tip #2 – buy a “travel pillow” – it is the perfect size for a toddler, and you’ll need even less material.

A yard of material is dirt cheap compared to your limited selection of pricey bed sets, and you can almost bank on the idea that toddlers don’t know that bedding should match, and really, why should it? Where is the fun in that? Live a little!

Alternatively, if you are “one of those people” and just can’t function without the matching set, you can take it a step further. I actually made (er, um, yeah) dinosaur blankets. Okay – I didn’t MAKE the blankets. I bought really cheap blankets and then covered one side with dinosaur material and used a plain blue cheapo material on the other side. In retrospect the plain blue material was more difficult to deal with since it was very stretchable. Tip #3: If sewing is not your thing – don’t buy anything too stretchy.

My dinosaur blankets each have a large seam running down the middle because often material is sold in smaller widths than can cover an adult sized blanket – did my kids notice? Nope! However, after a couple of weeks, one son complained of something pointy in the blanket. Oops – it turned out I had sewn in one of the pins I had used to keep the edges together. Tip # 4: (I think you get the point, yuk, yuk.)

That same young man is now an older teenager. Out of the numerous pillowcases I made for him, he still has (in his closet) what is now an old, raggedy pillow with the construction print pillowcase. He is not willing to part with it. It is a keepsake of his. Oh my gosh, how worth it is that?

So pick a print, apply your skills and give the gift of a pillowcase! Tip #5: Don’t forget to include a pillow.

Since you may not always be able to find what you are looking for at your local store, I am including some affiliate links for themed materials that are always available online:

Let me tell you how things finally went down. The old, bald guy had a bad day at work and was kind of grumpy. He actually went grocery shopping. While he was away, our boys & I ordered pizza. I removed the cake which I had hidden in the refrigerator, unwrapped the aluminum foil and left it in a pile on the counter. It was a big clue in plain sight. It turns out the boys did know about the cake in the freezer. I must have told them the story long ago.

So yes, there was a small slice missing. One red candle went in the center. I put out two presents. Traditional rules for the 20 year anniversary say I should buy china. More contemporary guidelines say one should buy platinum. So I bought both.

After my initial cake blog, a friend on Facebook sent a “Happy Anniversary” Flintstones clip. It has proven to be problematic in that I can’t get the song out of my head, even days later.

When hubby came home, the boys and I quickly helped out with the groceries, not letting him into the kitchen. Then I waited at the computer until one of my boys said, “Now.” He lit the candle and I pressed play on the music clip where Fred Flintstone and his buddies are singing and Barney is playing a Stoneway piano.

The old, bald guy walked into the kitchen and immediately lit up. He laughed and then said “Where did you get the cake?” I was kind of surprised. Then he said “There’s a slice missing.” He looked a little confused. He was just not getting it. I gave him a weird look, looked at the cake and then at the pile of aluminum foil, and looked back at him without saying a word. He circled around and I saw a sudden look of recognition come over his face.

“Is that what I think it is?!” Yes, I told him. He laughed, and I mean hard, and then he said, “Thank God! We can finally get rid of that thing!” How romantic.

We both thought the cake was in remarkably good form. The icing smelled like icing but when we touched the inside where the slice was missing, it felt really dry, like sand. No, we didn’t eat any.

Hubby enjoyed his presents, the pizza came, and we watched our wedding video. Our teenage boys had never seen it before. Pretty weird to see how young everyone looked, including ourselves, and a lot of people have since passed away. I was feeling sentimental and teary eyed here and there, but that quickly dissipated because boys will be boys and my 3 guys cracked a lot of weird jokes throughout. Again, very romantic.

What happened to the cake? Well, this cake is famous now. I gave it a fresh wrapping of aluminum foil and back into the freezer it went.

The old, bald guy and I are about to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary!!! The picture of the old ripped and torn aluminum foil wrapped thingy-a-bobby? It is the top tier of our wedding cake, and it has been in our freezer for literally 20 years. Read it again.

We have all heard about how you are supposed to put some of your wedding cake in the freezer and then defrost it for your one year anniversary and actually eat a bite. Yuck. For some reason we reluctantly participated in this tradition. Even if it tastes great, it is very difficult mentally to cope with the one year old part. Who came up with this silly tradition? Perhaps it is an early test of the “in sickness or in health” part of your marriage vows with regards to food poisoning.

Let’s move on to mental health. Where or how is mine? For some odd reason, the cake went back into the freezer and became a point of nostalgia for me. Years passed and my hubby would occasionally ask me when can we get rid of this cake? We’re never going to it eat. Well, true. But it would be like throwing away a piece of our history. I can’t say that we argued about it but I think he saw that it would make me sad. He gave up asking quite some time ago. I think he came to terms with the fact that as long as I am alive, this cake will be in the freezer. Honestly, if he had thrown it away without my knowledge for the greater part of the last decade, I probably wouldn’t have noticed. But, don’t tell him that.

So there I am, trying to think of some unique gift for our 20 year anniversary and I suddenly remember – the cake!!!! I’m going to defrost and put it on the table next to his real presents. I think he and our kids will get a kick out of it. I’m pretty sure our boys don’t even know what that ragged aluminum foil wrapped thing is that has been in the freezer for their entire lives. I’m not sure if they have ever heard the story behind it. Don’t worry – the old, bald guy is not into social media so he won’t see this post until post anniversary.

There is only one problem. I will be setting myself up for disaster. I imagine that after a fun evening and some giggling about the ridiculousness of it all, my hubby will probably ask if we can finally throw the cake away. It’s a dilemma. We’ll just see how things go. . .

The old bad guy and I had this dog named Agnes. She was a short haired, brown something or other that we got from the local humane society. When she was really worked up, her hairline that ran down the middle of her back would raise up, but backwards. She was the friendliest dog ever, but she was also very intimidating if you were on the other side of the fence. We got a lot of great comments on her – personality, personality, personality, Type A.

Agnes was quite often, a pain in the rear. She was definitely an alpha female. So much so, that she would raise her leg to go the bathroom, she wasn’t letting the males have anything on her. I have blogged about her issues with skunks. I almost put something into Big, Bad Wolfbag about skunks but I felt I already had enough material. So then there was the toad thing.

One day, I heard Agnes barking her brains out in the backyard. Yes, she was drooling and foaming at the mouth, just like in the book. I saw this toad on the ground. She was barking at it and almost trying to bite it but you could tell whatever slime substance was on its back was deterring her. We put the poor toad outside of the fence and worried some about Agnes. We have her plenty of water to drink and she turned out just fine.

There was the time when the old, bald guy and I were camping near a lake. We saw this young boy come up over the hill. Agnes’ ears perked up and she looked very alert. The boy saw her and stopped in his tracks. The old bald guy spoke out loud to himself, “Please don’t run”. Of course, the kid turned and ran, and Agnes chased after him. He must have been terrified. Agnes was the kind of dog that would chase after anything that ran away from her, but luckily for humans, she wouldn’t do anything but be playful once she caught up to you. Anyhow, we feared repercussions from angry parents so we packed up, called Agnes who dutifully came back, and we left. A version of this is in the opening chapter of my Wolfbag book, except I changed the boy to a girl.

Another time, we were camping at Lake Pleasant, which is why I decided to include the name of this lake in the book. Agnes loved swimming and we saw her swimming after a bird that looked like it had a broken wing. The closer she got to the bird, the bigger her eyes became. When she got really close, the bird flew away and Agnes turned around and swam back to shore. Before she got out of the water the bird flew back and plopped down near Agnes and swam away again with the appearance of the broken wing. Of course, Agnes turned back around and swam after the bird. We were sure Agnes kept getting too close to this bird’s nest on shore. This literally went on for at least an hour. Yes, this is also in the book. When I did internet searches to find birds that played the broken wing trick, I could only find a certain bird that to my recollection did not look anything like the bird that played this trick on our dog, and that is why the type of bird remains unnamed in the book.

The fishing incident in the book is completely made up and had nothing to do with Agnes. However, there was a time when our other dog, Ed, got tangled in someone’s fishing line as he swam by. That silly angler saw him coming and should have reeled his line in, but instead he watched the whole thing happen and then blamed us for letting our dog tangle his fishing line. Luckily, as Ed kept swimming the line untangled on its own and we didn’t have to unhook him or anything. We were glad because we didn’t want to deal with that dummy anymore anyhow.

I could go on and on about Agnes, and I’m sure in the future I will. Now you know a lot of the events which inspired me came from real life and you can read all about them in my third chapter book called Moore Zombies: Big, Bad Wolfbag.

I blogged a pinch about this last year, but this is a much more in depth blog about the boo subject. Here goes:

Every time I see a contest for a Thanksgiving story, I think of my grandmother who has long since passed away. My family has an interesting tradition that stems from a Thanksgiving dinner many, many years ago. We say “boo” after a good meal. A good meal means that someone actually put some effort into cooking. One might say “boo” after a meal they did not enjoy in a show of respect for the chef, however, one would certainly not say “boo” after a fast food meal. Back in the day, there was no such thing as fast food as far as today’s meaning of the phrase.

The tradition started before I was born. I have heard the origination story so many times that I feel as if I were there. I was not. Now that I think about, I have only ever heard the story from my mother’s perspective. Yet, I was there for meals with my grandmother and family when we all said “boo” afterwards. Only now do I wish I had heard perhaps a truer, closer to the source version from my grandmother’s own mouth.

I wrote a wonderful piece on the subject from my grandmother’s point of view. Envision the daily life of a young mother in the 1950’s and all the differences between then and now, and all the similarities between then and now. I can picture my mother as a young child at the time, who could not even fathom her own grandchildren as she knows them today who live to carry on this tradition, much in the same way that my children can’t hardly imagine their own children yet to come, let alone grandchildren who perhaps will say “boo” one day after a home cooked meal, maybe a Thanksgiving meal.

As I introduce you to the slightly more dramatic version of this tale, I hope you think of your family’s past, present, and future, and revel in your own family traditions! Happy Thanksgiving and enjoy. . .

Listen To What I Hear

Pay attention. Listen to what I hear. I took pride in my craft. I slaved all day with no help, no offers of help. I expressed my affection through my work. My loved ones gathered around, and took part in this, the most intimate of family traditions, a holiday known most for family gatherings and for a day of thanks. No compliments were heard, no thanks, no giving on anyone’s part but mine. I was waiting, just waiting for even the smallest something.

As the last family member left the table, save for myself, I knew it wasn’t going to happen. I was ired by their rudeness. I heard a voice coming from myself expressing in a disappointed and loud voice the same words I was feeling: “I worked hard all day for this fine meal before you and no one even said boo!”

My family was just as shocked by my reaction as I was by their non-reaction. The children eyed each other, eyed me, and then eyed their father nervously. My husband, at first, looked surprised. His perplexed expression relaxed, and slowly turned to adorement. A faint smile slowly crept upon his face. He then said “boo” in the nicest, most loving way. My children giggled in the moment and also said “boo”, each in turn.

It was the smallest something. But really it was greater than that. From resentment and compassion was born this family tradition: A gift of folklore to the family, from the family, for the family. My legacy? Perhaps. I am no longer here, and yet, this old soul lives on. Boo. It is what you would expect this old ghost to say, but it is what I hear.

I thought I knew English. It is my first language. I speak some Spanish and have learned those rules are much easier than English. English has iffy rules.

You might be able to start a sentence with “and”. But, starting a sentence with “but” is iffy. But we speak like that all the time. Do you walk towards the tree or do you walk toward the tree? It depends on which country you live in or rather, which country one’s writing is intended for. One can often tell the origin of one’s writing if there is “our” instead of “or”, such as colour and color. Then there is theater and theatre. In the United States of America, however, we use both. You can go traveling in the United States. However, you go travelling outside of the U.S. Note how I underlined those words for emphasis.

In my Moore Zombies: Zombie World book, I have a couple of attractions inside the park. (Incomplete Sentence Alert.) For instance Creepy Show and the Become a Zombie areas. I looked up rules for names and a long list of things to be italicized or emphasized. Was there an attraction on the list? Nope. I also bring up the fact that Frankenstein is the name of the scientist in the book Frankenstein, (underline book names) and not the name of the monster. Same problem. In bringing attention to the name itself, do I refer to it as Frankenstein, “Frankenstein” or Frankenstein? I decided one way, then the other, then back again. I found I had caps in one area, italics in another section of the book and quotes in other areas. How confusing. Change it all to “just normal” I finally decided. I think. I could be wrong. Read the book. (Pluggy, pluggy.)

One thing that I have recently learned is one is supposed to put a comma after an introductory hello. Hello, Sir or Maam. Why the pause? I have been writing letters all of my life with “Hello Jane”, not “Hello, Jane”. I’m going to have to attend counseling sessions now. Speaking of pauses. . . Suddenly, the black cat jumped in front of me. If it was suddenly then there shouldn’t be a pause!

Did you know there is a difference between onto and on to? If you walk on to the next attraction, you are going there. If you walk onto the next attraction, that would be incorrect because you are not really “on” the attraction. What about off of? I hear it all the time. She jumped off of the table. I discovered a great argument against this practice. One wouldn’t say on of, therefore you can’t use off of. Now it becomes: She jumped off the table.

Now that on and off are easily understood, I would like to tell you about a confusing conversation my husband and I once had about the alarm. Is the alarm set? Yes it is on. Does that mean the alarm is sounding? No, if the alarm were sounding, then it would be going off. So the alarm is off if it is not set to on, or you have turned the noise off. If the alarm is on, it is not really on, it is only set to alarm. Try explaining that to someone who is learning English.

If you think I have mastered the language, reread this blog to find that I use quotes here, italics there and underlines elsewhere. Sometimes you just have to go with your gut. Luckily, that is often not entirely incorrect in the wonderful world of English.

Hello all. And I mean all! I don’t care what your age is in the human spectrum of life. If you are reading to and with children, then a specified age range for a book implies limitations that just shouldn’t be. This is why I HATE placing an age range on my Moore Zombies books. Plug, plug.

I am a strong believer in early reading. When my children were young, I read to them early and often. Yes, you may enjoy the words and the pictures, but don’t forget about cuddling, bonding, learning, teaching, feeling proud, giggling, etc. This can be between adult and child, between older child and younger child, or even between children of the same age. Everyone has fun.

You can’t tell me that a toddler doesn’t read. Maybe they can’t interpret the letters, but they are certainly taking it all in. In a way, isn’t that reading? Don’t we read situations? Don’t we read people’s emotions? There is no lettering involved there.

My mom has a story about how proud my brother’s babysitter was about teaching him to read a Dr. Seuss book. After she left, my brother read the whole book out loud, over and over, without the book. My mom didn’t have the heart to tell the babysitter. Somewhere, I have footage of my young son reading a book that was upside down. However, he had all of the words memorized, and I mean correctly for each page. I’ve seen online footage of other young kids reading an upside down book. How cute!! This is definitely a form of early reading.

As an author, I enjoy placing things in my picture books (meaning wording and pictures) for adults and children, because I know they will be read by both. So how can I classify my picture books as being intended for ages 3-5 or 4-8 when in reality they are for ages baby to senior. The years pass quickly, so grab a picture book and read to, or with your kids. I highly recommend Moore Zombies!

We will get to cell phones in a moment or two, depending on how fast you can read. But first, let me give you an example of skewed advertising. Right now, I want you to picture a pair of prescription glasses. What pops into your mind? For those of us who have impaired eyesight, we can tell you why your picture is not quite right.

It turns out that a pair of prescription glasses is actually 3 parts: the frames, lens number one, and lens number two. If you would like to upgrade to scratch resistant, low glare, transition lenses, lightweight, etc., you will pay more. Seriously?

What about shopping for homes? New home buyers might think they will pay only the quoted principal and interest price per month. Not only will property tax and insurance add much to your payment, but you find out about all sorts of processing and document fees. Those are my favorite kinds of fees. In fact my husband and I recently bought a used car from a sales lot. Luckily, we were eligible and fortunate enough to participate (again) in the non advertised processing fee and document fee program. I think I’m going to start a club.

Let’s talk cell phones. I found a screaming deal! And after all has been said and done, I assure you, in my opinion (back off lawyers), it IS a screaming deal!!! I wish I could say I get a kick back or some sort of payment for my testimonial. I don’t. Do I want to pay it forward? Sure. Do I want there to be an eventual repercussion on those engaged in skewed advertising? Yes!!! Hopefully it will lead to either a lowering of rates, a true reflection of the actual cost involved, or both.

Backstory: Kids wanted cell phones. Mom (me) & Dad, (the old bald guy) owned dinosaur flip phones with old school texting for a “low” monthly payment of approximately $60 per month through “major” carrier. Last Christmas I bought my boys pay-as-you-go cell phones with slide open keypads. I thought it would be the highlight of their presents. My boys were thoroughly unimpressed. They weren’t smart phones. They went mostly unused. . . A waste of money.

So, the talk of the next couple of months was how to get smart phones for the whole family. My boys and I checked into plans and found some deals. A lot of major carriers offer some sort of family plan. Screaming deals!! So we ran the numbers and finally decided to go with a certain carrier. I actually went online and started adding things to “my cart”. The numbers went horribly awry. The plan was a great deal, but oh, you actually want line access with that? Um, yes, I would like for the phones to work. Well, then, that is a different situation. The stated family plan with phones and plan, and line access was now more than double than the advertised deal. It turns out that cell phone usage is like buying glasses. There are 3 parts: the phone, the plan, and the line access. You need all 3 for it to work.

So we checked out a second major carrier who also advertised a screaming deal. Nope, same problem. We checked into a third major carrier. Again, same thing. Note how I am not naming names.

I can’t figure out why companies pay huge bucks for advertising and for advertising campaigns that just aren’t as advertised. A company should be creating a feel good, win-win relationship with a customer. Why in the world would you advertise a price point that you know is not true for the service to work, and set up a resentful relationship with your customer? I really don’t get it. Hint, hint.

My quest continued. I start asking around at work. What type of cell phone do you own? What do you like and not like about your cell phone? Who is your carrier? Is your service good? How much do you pay per month? They are only too happy to answer my questions but I don’t like their answers when it comes to the cost. As the months go by, my coworkers become annoyed with me. They can’t believe that in my downtime I am still online looking for a screaming deal. There just aren’t any. When will I wake up?

But wait. I came across a great article. The link is at the bottom of this blog post. I researched the plans and decided to go with Republic Wireless for three of us and a separate plan for the old, bald guy who had different needs cell phone wise. My sons and I are almost always under the wonderful veil of Wifi service either at home, work, or school. I had to purchase 3 smart phones up front. I believe they were around $150 each. Maybe this is part of the way they make money, I don’t know. They are not the latest and greatest, but they are smartphones, and you can only use the Republic Wireless plan with certain phones. We did not “port in” our numbers, which means we got new phone numbers.

I didn’t pick the cheapest plan, which is Wifi only at $5.00 per month. You can make 911 calls outside of Wifi. I upgraded myself and the kids to the $10 per month plan which includes text and calls over 3G outside of Wifi. You can upgrade to include gigs if you want. They now even have a refund program where you receive money off of your bill for not using your gig allowance if you are on that plan.

The part I am DYING to get to: My monthly bill is $33, including taxes for all three lines. The fine print? It is actually in the same size type as all of the rest. Republic Wireless has a page about how much you will pay in taxes. There is no line access fee, no skewed advertising in my opinion. How refreshing! That is why the $10 per month option I chose X 3 lines of service, plus taxes equals $33.00.

This is a two part plan. One, buy a phone, two, pay for service. That’s it. Really, truly, A SCREAMING DEAL! Don’t believe me? Neither does anyone else. I tell my friends and coworkers about what I finally decided upon and tell them the cost. The looks on people’s faces would be the same as if I told them about last night’s alien abduction experience. One coworker even stated, “Well, you really don’t know until you receive your fist bill.” Another victim of being used to having to pay at least 100% more than advertised per month for that “monthly deal”.

No, really. My monthly bill, again, including taxes is $33 per month for 3 lines of service. I have had the service for several months, I have received the bills, and yes, it’s true. Check it out!

About Canyon

An elegant, versatile and magazine style theme with easy customization options. It features a modern design, post excerpts with thumbnails, header, background, fixed-width, widget-ready and threaded comments. Canyon theme also comes with custom Menus support and other cool features. Tested with major browsers - Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer, Opera, Safari and Chrome. Check Canyon Official Page in case you need directions.